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Yard

A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including United States customary units, Imperial units and the former English units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches. Under an agreement in 1959 between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, the yard was legally defined to be exactly 0.9144 metres. Prior to that date, the legal definition of the yard when expressed in terms of metric units varied slightly from country to country.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

Yard

yärd, n. an English measure of 3 feet or 36 inches: a long beam on a mast for spreading square sails: the penis.—ns.Yard′-arm, either half of a ship's yard (right or left) from the centre to the end; Yard′stick, a stick 3 feet long, any standard of measurement—also Yard′wand. [A.S. gyrd, gierd, a rod, measure; Dut. garde, Ger. gerte; further conn. with Goth. gazds, a stick, L. hasta, a spear.]

Yard

yärd, n. an enclosed place, esp. near a building, as 'prison-yard,' or where any special work is carried on, as 'brick-yard,' 'wood-yard,' 'dock-yard,' 'navy-yard:' a garden.—v.t. to enclose in a yard.—ns.Yard′age, the use of a yard, or the charge made for such: the cutting of coal at so much per yard; Yard′-land, the amount of land held by a tenant in villeinage, in older English usage, varying from 15 to 40 acres; Yard′man, the person having special charge of a farm-yard: one employed in a railway-yard in making up trains, &c.; Yard′-mas′ter, one who has the special oversight of a railway-yard. [A.S. geard, hedge, enclosure; Ger. garten; conn. with L. hortus, Gr. chortos.]

British National Corpus

Spoken Corpus Frequency

Rank popularity for the word 'yard' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3216

Written Corpus Frequency

Rank popularity for the word 'yard' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2093